Tamil Nadu: Family stripped, tied to tree and assaulted after man elopes with woman of different caste
As soon as the man's family reached Dharmapuri, they were allegedly locked in a room and assaulted. The victims were later tied to trees, stripped and assaulted again.
At least eight members of a family were stripped, tied to a tree and assaulted by a group of men in Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu. The incident happened nearly a month after a man belonging to the victims' family eloped with a woman from a different caste.
While the man belonged to the Navithar caste, the woman was from the Vanniyar caste. The men, who stripped and assaulted the man's family members, belonged to the Vanniyar community. While both the castes are classified as the most backward castes (MBCs), the Vanniyars are numerically dominant.
The woman and the man were reportedly in a relationship for over eight years. According to the reports, the woman left her residence on June 21 on the pretext of filing an application for admission in a government college. After the woman did not return home, her family filed a 'missing' complaint. Since the man was also missing from his home, the woman's family suspected that the two had eloped.
Soon after the incident, over 100 persons surrounded the man's family members and intimidated them over the incident. Fearing backlash from the community, the man's family fled the village and went to live in another state.
However, the man's family members managed to convince them to come back to Dharmapuri, saying they wanted to hold talks on the matter. As soon as the man's family reached Dharmapuri, they were allegedly locked in a room and assaulted. The victims were later tied to trees, stripped and assaulted again.
The police have, however, completely denied that any such incident took place in the region.